Remember the amazing Rukhsana Khan from last year's Golden Kite lunch? Here she is with Erin and Philip! From Rukhsana's website http://www.rukhsanakhan.com/

To start off, how Neal met Philip. Books of Wonder is a
hotbed of creative energy, says Neal, many of the current and past booksellers
there, like Nick Bruel, George O’Connor, Jason Chin, are now well-published
book makers, Neal calls them the Books of Wonder Mafia. It was one of these
mafiosos that introduced Neal to the work of Philip and Erin Stead.

Neal shares some before and after text of Amos,
Philip’s original, with Neal’s edit requests, which brought Amos’s character to
a deeper and sweeter level.

Neal shares a photo of Erin’s bust of Amos, as well as the
evolution of Erin’s sketches of the zoo animals, her woodblock process. I love Neal's parting words on the (surprise to them) success of Amos:

“It makes me a little teary that a quiet book, that doesn’t
have sparkles on its cover or scream can still find success in this complicated market and
world.”

I don’t want to over share Neal’s session, but I have to
mention Brian Floca’s superb artwork for this picture book, and how Neal
refound Brian via Brian’s friend's website (another NP-er, the
illustrious Johanna Wright!). And it was just a teensy thumbnail of a drawing
of a fashion show in Brian’s online portfolio (very different from art Neal
knew from Brian's books like the more technical Moonshot) that led to Neal picking Brian for this book.

Illustrators, never underestimate the power of virtual
friendships and sharing a range of your best styles in your online portfolio!